Dragon Heartstring(35)

“What’s up, man?”

“Max, I need officers here at the Morgon clinic before I fucking kill this man who just attacked Shakara. You have three minutes.”

“We’ll be there in two.” The comm call clicked off.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“A friend. Come with me,” he said, ushering me back toward the front reception area.

“Wait! Carra. She’s tied up in my office.”

Demetrius’s gaze darkened further. “I’ll take care of her.” With one hand around my waist, he guided me all the way out the door to the street and waved in the air to the building next to us.

Within a heartbeat, my body guard landed next to us, closing his giant silver wings with a rush of wind. “What happened?”

“Where were you?” barked Demetrius accusingly. “You didn’t see the man who entered the clinic?”

I put my hand on Demetrius’s chest. “He couldn’t. The man was already in there when I arrived.” I nodded to the guard whose name I still didn’t know. “He had followed me from my aunt’s hotel and wouldn’t have seen him.”

Demetrius clenched his jaw. “The receptionist is still inside in the back.”

My body guard swept past us without a word and went after Carra.

Sirens wailed, drawing closer. It was under two minutes when Demetrius’s friend screeched up to the curb. A man with dark hair wearing street clothes hopped out of a black sedan with lights on the dash.

“Who was it?” he asked as he stepped up next to us.

The other officers strolled past us into the clinic. The spinning blue lights were comforting somehow.

“I’ll give you one guess,” said Demetrius.

“I bet he’s bald and wears a trench coat.”

I sucked in a breath. “How did you know?”

The man nodded and smiled at me, a hint of the devil in his eyes. “Hi, there. Maxwell Rivers at your service.”

“Hello.”

“Max.” Demetrius cut through the niceties, his expression still dark and grave. “You’d best pay a visit to Aron Grayson. Because if I do, I’ll murder him in cold blood for this.”

“Warning received. You stay away from Grayson. I’ll take care of it.”

“I’m not joking.”

“No,” said Max, still lightheartedly. “You don’t appear to be. As I said, I’ll take care of it.”

“Shakara!” Carra ran up to me, her mascara in streaks down her face.

I hugged her close. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“No.” She shook her head. “He was asking for you. Before I could message you a warning, he grabbed me and tied me up. I’m so sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” I gave her one more squeeze then asked Max, “Can someone give her a ride home?”

“Of course.” He waved over one of the guys.

Another officer exited the clinic and stepped close to Max. “Uh, we’ll need an ambulance.” The young man glanced at Demetrius, eyes wide. “The perp, well, he needs medical attention.”

“Then call a damn ambulance,” said Max authoritatively. “Is your comm broken or something?”

“Yes, sir. I mean, no sir.” He rushed away to his police car.

“Newbie,” said Max with a shrug before angling a heavy look at Demetrius. “Get her home.”

Max obviously made light of the fact the young officer hadn’t expected to find the perpetrator lying unconscious with his face beaten bloody. The man was lucky I’d stopped Demetrius before he’d done worse.

With a hand on the small of my back, Demetrius guided me toward his vehicle across the street. Once the car was moving away from the scene, he reached over, clasped my hand, and pulled it into his lap. Neither of us said a word until I realized we weren’t heading toward my apartment.

“Where are we going?”

“My place.”

He’d never taken me there before. He swerved into an underground garage. I didn’t know the human business district well, but I knew what this building was.

“You live at Cade Technologies Tower?”

“I have an apartment on the top floor.”

Once out of the car, he was glued to my side again. I wasn’t about to complain. I was still shaken from the attack. Once inside the elevator, Demetrius punched in a code, a series of numbers and letters. A green light lit up next to the Penthouse button, which he then pressed. The elevator rose.

“Let me see your wrist comm,” he said.

I raised my wrist. He scrolled through to my notepad and typed in the same combination of letters and numbers.

“Now you have my code to get into my place any time you need.”

“Thank you.” I took his hand, still feeling the anger billowing off him. The energy was a fierce bite in the air. “Who else has the code?”

“No one.” He looked down at me with an intense expression. “Only you.”

The elevator dinged. We walked out into a foyer with an open archway leading into his place. Dark wood floors stretched across a room that was double the size of my apartment. One entire wall was nothing but glass with a stunning view of the business district.